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Tuesday, November 18, 2003
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Check this site out, bloggers: Allconsuming.net makes lists of every book discussed in weblog posts by scanning Weblogs.com, hacking book data from Amazon.com, and displaying it all in handy lists. With weblog titles and quotes! Find out what bloggers are reading, and (of course) find your own site featured under books you cite. Better yet, the site accumulates every book your weblog lists: see my list here. It's stuff like this that makes America great. Thank you, Erik Benson. FYI, there's a similar "book accumulator" over at Bookwatch.
11:23:02 PM 
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 The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith
This new book is by Alan Wolfe (Free Press, 2003). Written by a sociologist, this interesting new book seems quite friendly to religion as a whole, but paints a picture of watered-down modern American religion that is "practicing the culture" rather than "practicing the faith." A thorough review of the book at Christianity Today gives the following quote: Christians and Jews . . . have ignored doctrines, reinvented traditions, switched denominations, redefined morality, and translated their obligation to witness into a lifestyle. Ouch! Look up Mormonism in the index when you see it at your local bookstore and see how we measure up (can't do much worse).
Update: Took my own advice and went by Barnes and Noble. They didn't have Radio Userland Kick Start but they did have Wolfe's book, with eight pages devoted to the Mormons and how they are the exception to the general decline in morality observed in society and many churches. Among Mormon advantages he noted the complete lack of theological rigor (you can believe whatever you want), the crisp, functional corporate structure, the feel-good focus of religious life and worship, and the focus on proselyting to build membership. It's strange, really: Christians hate us (we're not "their kind of Christian," it seems); sociologists love us (Mormonism works for Mormons while other denominations seem to be failing). Go figure.
10:52:45 PM
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There's a pleasantly short little post over at FAIR entitled Dealing With Difficult Issues. The author gives seven suggestions for dealing with "difficult issues, noting that [f]aith, and what the LDS term testimony, can be a fragile thing. Sometimes we can run across information that challenges our long-held beliefs . . . . [W]e may question our testimony or wonder how our faith can survive intact in the light of the new information.Best point: Remember to focus on what you know. It is a common fallacy to think that we have to have all the answers. I'll buy that. There is "expert opinion" on both sides of every disputed issue, in religion or any other area of human inquiry. Weakest point: Remember that someone has already dealt with it. There are enough historians, apologists, and members in the Church to have heard every historical issue that you might deem difficult. This seems to invite the reader to have faith that "Mormon experts" have dealt with every question that might arise. You can have too much faith, you know. Paul counseled a degree of skepticism: "Test everything. Hold on to the good" (1 Thess. 5:21, NIV). We should take Paul's advice and ask more questions.
10:26:56 PM
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© Copyright 2004 Dave's Mormon Inquiry Weblog.
Last update: 3/3/2004; 12:02:21 AM.
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